One of the simple tips to working with different generations in the workplace is to train and lead employees to recognize and respect
what each generation has to offer and what they need rather than negating or
ignoring pushing to be whatever the leader thinks is normal. For example, if a
generation Y has been raised on technology their brains have been wired to make
quick “Shallow” decisions like, "I want this text and I don’t want that one."
They
will have more trouble interacting face to face and may have trouble making
decisions under stress. So for them, know that requesting that they go down the
hall and talk to Joe is like asking them to get on a dog sled, yell, "Mush" to the huskies, ride up to Alaska, and
over to Siberia and speak Russian to Joe. They may think that’s too
hard and scary, and or ridiculous when they can message him on their phone instead.” Respect
the fact that they can process thousands of tech messages a day and if you need
them to interact face to face you need to approach it like they need training
in a completely different language and culture or say a totally different
technology or software and spend the same amount of time and effort to help
them learn how to do it as you would those huge shifts in how to work.
Why We Are Addicted
to Our Technology.
Why Tech Use May
Affect Our Relationships and Decision Making
When you interact
with a technological device you make what is labeled in the research “quick
shallow decisions”, such as, “I want this text. I don't want this text. ““I
want this website it’s interesting. I don't want this one it’s boring” “I want
to take this call.” “I don’t want to take this call.”
The
front of the brain (the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex if you want to know the
five-dollar term) that helps us make decisions and integrates complex
information and short term memory are activated, so we can make a quick go or
no-go decisions. It’s called Continual Partial Attention. It allows us to keep
tabs on everything, but never really focus on anything.
These quick shallow decisions lay down
pathways to the ego centers of your brain. In fact, doing so gives you a bit of
a hit of a chemical high. If you find yourself hunched over your electronic device or see a coworker that can’t
seem to stay focused as he checks his device while he is supposed to be having
a conversation with you, or the teenager that listens to music while texting on another device and talking on
his cell. Well, guess what? This rewiring for partial attention causes a techno
addiction. We stay busy attending. We want that new bit of news or information
to keep us excited and high and it feeds our self-worth. Yep, it feeds the part
of the hippocampus that enlarges our ego. It actually makes us cocky enough to
rudely answer a cell phone call when we are in a meeting or out with a friend
or family member. Techno's business is dark chocolate, caffeine, and heroin-like
ego-boosting high.
So when you check
your phone when you are bored or stressed. If not only gives you a chemical
boost you get high, feel in control and because you are getting a hit to the
ego centers of the brain it makes you feel superior to those around you.
You can now
understand why people are constantly checking their phones, especially when
they are stressed or have no other activity or are bored and why techno jerk doing
it rudely seems irritated and uncomfortable to have asked him to stop
interacting with his phone or gets irritated when you want to talk with him
face to face. Unfortunately, to successfully make quick shallow decisions you
are laying done pathways to the ego portion of the brain and having the face-to-face interactions that lay down pathways to the social centers of the brain.
You’re laying your tracks down to the ego center that produces that nice
addictive high but interpersonal communication becomes more difficult and may
even feel like an inferior means of interacting. Something you are
"above" having to do. “
Again, when you talk to other people face-to-face you lay down
neural pathways to the social centers of your brain. The more you
interact interpersonally human to human the stronger the pathways become.
Meeting people and talking to them becomes easier and you become more skilled
and confident. And researchers have found that the pathways to the social
centers are superhighways that stay strong and work even under stress while
the pathways we form when we make quick shallow decisions are weak and so fragile
they break down when we are under stress.
Why Technology is
Stressing Us Out? Technology and the Brain
- The pruning of (reduction) neural pathways in
the brain when we are young is based on how we use our brain. The brain
prunes pathways we don’t use and keeps the neural pathways we use the
most.
- The ones laid down when we are highly focused
on activities like reading a book or having a deep conversation are deeper and have more capacity like wide superhighways. They can handle more
information overload when we are under stress like a highway can handle
more cars in commute time than a surface road.
- The neural pathways laid down for the quick
shallow decisions we make when we are on technology such as, “I want this
email I don’t want this one.” “I want this website in my Google search I
don’t want that one.” are shallow and thin pathways that actually break apart under stress because of their low capacity, like a bridge could collapse if too many cars and trucks are on it at the same time. These are the kind neural pathways that young people are forming the most. And the kind
that form in anyone who spends hours day making quick shallow decisions on
technology.
- If we don’t have focused attention and deep
social bonds and enough face to face interactions therefore only have the
shallow, narrow, neural pathways formed with our use of technology we have
trouble handling stress. We may feel overwhelmed and helpless and unable
to make a decision. We may have panic attacks, freeze in place, get sick
or call our mommies for help. Anyone that uses technology a lot can form
more shallow narrow pathways and therefore have less ability to think and
function under stress. Even having a phone or other device of yours in the
same room has been shown to create distraction and partial attention
thereby reduce you cognition and memory ability, making it difficult for
you to solve problems and make decisions!!!
Patti Wood, MA - The Body Language Expert. For more body language insights go to her website at www.PattiWood.net. Check out Patti's website for her new book "SNAP, Making the Most of First Impressions, Body Language and Charisma" at www.snapfirstimpressions.com.
